Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana Volumen 71, núm. 2, 2019, p. 481-495 http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/ BSGM2019v71n2a15

Estudio arqueomagnético de cerámicas del Holoceno elaboradas por sociedades indígenas del Uruguay 

Juan Morales^1,*, Leda Sánchez-Betucci², Irina Capdepont³, Avto Goguitchaichvili⁴

¹Laboratorio Interinstitucional de Magnetismo Natural y Servicio Arqueomagnético Nacional, Instituto de Geofísica, UNAM, Unidad Michoacán, Campus Morelia. Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701 Col. Ex-Hacienda de San José de la Huerta. 58190 Morelia, Michoacán México.

²Laboratorio Interinstitucional de Magnetismo Natural y Servicio Arqueomagnético Nacional, Instituto de Geofísica, UNAM, Unidad Michoacán, Campus Morelia. Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701 Col. Ex-Hacienda de San José de la Huerta. 58190 Morelia, Michoacán México.

³Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República de Uruguay, Montevideo. Iguá 4225, Malvín Norte, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay.

⁴CURE - UdelaR y Laboratorio de Estudios del Cuaternario (MEC/UNCIEP-IECA, Facultad de Ciencias) Iguá 4225, Piso 11, Ala Sur. 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay.

* This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

The study of well-dated archeological potsherds and heated structures (i.e. kilns, floors, etc.) yields the opportunity for a better knowledge of the geomagnetic field variations at archeological timescales. We present the first archeointensity results obtained on Uruguayan ceramics prepared by indigenous societies on the coast of the Uruguay River. Titanomagnetite with low Ti content seem to be the responsible for the remanence in these ceramic fragments, as inferred from the results obtained from continuous thermomagnetic and isothermal remanent magnetization acquisitions curves. Fifteen (~100 specimens) out of the twenty-two analyzed fragments produced reliable archeointensity estimates. Archeointensity determinations were obtained using the Thellier-Coe method, while the corresponding archeointensity dates by using the dating arqueo_dating tool. Obtained archeointensities from the total of the analyzed samples vary between 23.3 ± 1.4 μT and 42.9 ± 2.4 μT, and correspond to ages between 1660 BC and 1660 AD. These ages are consistent with ¹⁴C dates previously reported in the area.

Keywords: Indigenous societies of the Uruguay, Holocene, Geomagnetic Archeointensity, Archeomagnetic dating.